Had a real scare with a blocked flue in a 1920s house in Pasadena

I was cleaning a chimney in an old brick home and my brush got totally stuck about eight feet down. The owner said it hadn't been swept in over twenty years. I had to use a different set of rods and a lot of careful wiggling to get it free without damaging the clay liner. Anyone have a good method for dealing with a really packed, old creosote blockage like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana8292mo ago

Actually, that's a clay tile liner, not a flue pipe. Those old ones can be really fragile.

kaip112mo ago

Yeah, I always called those flue pipes too until a contractor pointed out the difference. He showed me how the clay tiles are separate pieces stacked together, not one solid pipe. Makes sense why they crack so easy.

matthewgonzalez2mo ago

Oh man, @diana829 is totally right. Those old clay liners crumble if you look at them wrong. Gotta be super careful cleaning that.